Ravinia Capital Wins 363 Sale and Dealmaker of the Year -- for the Second Time

Ravinia Capital LLC, a boutique investment bank specializing in middle market sales and debt advisory, is proud to announce it has earned two awards at the 18th Annual M&A Advisor Turnaround Awards.

Founder and Managing Director, Tom Goldblatt, has been named the Distressed M&A Deal Maker of the Year. This represents the second time Goldblatt was awarded the prestigious Distressed Deal Maker of the Year by M&A Advisors. He first won it in 2014.

Ravinia Capital LLC was also the recipient of the Healthcare/Life Sciences Deal of the Year Award. The awards recognize the Section 363 Going Concern Sale of Allied Healthcare Products (AHP).

Mr. Goldblatt will receive his award from the M&A Advisor at a black-tie Awards Gala on Tuesday, March 19 at The Ben Hotel in West Palm Beach, FL, in conjunction with the 2024 M&A Advisor Distressed Investing Summit.

Roger Aguinaldo, Founder and CEO of the M&A Advisor, spoke with Tom about winning the prestigious Distressed Deal Maker of the Year award for the second time on his podcast. 

M&A Advisor recently awarded you the 2024 Distressed Deal Maker of the Year for your sale of Allied Healthcare Products in a 363-bankruptcy sale. In 2014, you won the same award for your sale of Employment Plus, an industrial staffing company. Briefly describe each sale?

TG:

Allied Healthcare Products is a leading provider of diverse lines of medical devices that was on track to liquidate and lay off more than 100 employees. We saw value in the company as a going concern and were able to convince the company’s board of directors to allow us to run a sales process. We were able to successfully bring in a new DIP lender, work with the company’s union to keep the employees, and complete a 363-bankruptcy sale as a going concern.

In 2014, we sold Employment Plus, a $300 million staffing company that had negative EBITDA and owed large sums of past due taxes and which was also on track to be foreclosed upon by its lender. In this case, we were able to run a swift competitive process that resulted in the company being sold to a portfolio company of Morgan Stanley for nearly $100 million, with all creditors paid in full and a large payoff fee for the senior lender.

What are five keys to achieving these types of results?

TG:

1. Determine if a company has more value as a going concern than liquidated, and if so, act firmly and swiftly to move this towards a reality and not accept any other less lucrative result, even if easier. Visualize the superior value the company has as a going concern and do not accept any other reality. 
2. Don’t go it alone. Find allies. When you get involved with a distressed situation that is on track to close, at first you will feel you are going against the grain and disrupting plans in action, however, you will find there are always other parties who also will benefit from the company staying in business, including employees, vendors, customers, and lenders. Even parties that initially seem to be working against you will often come around once they see the reality that the company can be saved as a going concern.
3. Be creative and proactive when introduced into a situation that is on track to close, even if your initial introduction is not for a complete sale. For example, with Employment Plus, we began trying to find minority equity, which was not available, but advised the company to give us three months to demonstrate that a going concern sales process was possible despite large losses. In Allied, we first were referred by the incumbent lender to try to sell a small division as a carve out. When we suspected the whole company should be sold instead of liquated, we convinced the board of directors to allow us two weeks to access the company and propose a going concern sales process.
4. Act with constant urgency. Distressed deals are risky and late payments and cash tight negative consequences are a daily event. It is critical to stay ahead of your follow up every day. Prod all the other parties, including professionals, management, and buyers, with a firm lead. 
5. Always act with complete integrity, each action intended to maximize ultimate value for the stakeholders. We refer to ourselves as “Mercenaries for the Stakeholders.” In any distressed deal, by definition, some parties will not get paid and there will be upset. Keep your head down, act with emotional intelligence and stay cool.

National Boutique Investment Bank for the Middle Market

 Sales of Companies (healthy and distressed)

Debt Refinances | Capital Raises

Tom Goldblatt

Managing Partner

Ravinia Capital LLC